Matzo Ball Soup

There wasn’t much of a Jewish influence where I grew up, in a small town on the inner peninsula of Washington State. Since moving to the east coast and marrying into a family with both cultural and religious Jews, I decided it was high time to explore some of the traditional cuisine.

From what I can gather the real backbone of matzo ball soup is not just the texture of the dumplings themselves, but the character of the chicken broth (pun intended?). You can make a passable version, I’m sure, with storebought stock or broth, but it is really elevated to the next level if you take the time to roast our own chicken to make the stock. Roasting a chicken is simple, hands-off task and its presence in the stock makes a huge difference.

You can either reserve the meat of the bird for another purpose, or do what I did (though it’s not pictured) and slice the breast into pieces and lay them at the bottom of the bowl.

The debate consistently rages over whether one should have light and fluffy matzo balls or dense and substantive matzo balls. These are of the latter category, largely because I used whole grain matzo meal because I liked the 5 grams of fiber per serving. Keep that in mind if your family prefers the light and fluffy dumplings.

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Mushroom-Pecorino Ravioli

Dating back to at least the 14th century, ravioli have long been a satisfying treat spanning cultures across the globe. The Italians have their raviolis, but so do the Russians their pelmini, the Ukrainians their varenyky, and the Chinese their 義大利餃 (Italian jiaozi, or dumpling).

They have a rich history - according to Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food by John Dickie, ravioli were reportedly served to the papal enclave of 1549 - along with boiled chicken.

Though I'd pass on the boiled chicken, I'll rarely pass on a good ravioli. With the right filling and the right sauce the combination can be heavenly. Although tedious, the preparation could hardly be called difficult, with or without a ravioli mold.

It is, however, incredibly time consuming.

And time is something that I often have little of, especially when in the middle of a semester so brain-rending that medieval torture devices would provide respite from my agony. I'll take water-torture over a 3 paper week any time.

That being said, the substitution of store-bought gyoza wrappers (the round equivalent of a wonton wrapper, more commonly used in Japanese cuisine) for homemade pasta dough works quite adequately. It makes a good deal of sense that they would considering that potstickers are really just the Asian equivalent of ravioli in any case.

Some might frown upon the shortcut, but if they have the time to make homemade pasta dough on a weeknight and then assemble the raviolis one by one - well, feel free to stop by anytime. My kitchen awaits your culinary bad-assery.

In the meantime, I'll stick to my gyoza wrappers.

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